


Waiting

by AceYosuke



Series: Sometimes family is the friends we made along the way [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Canon Autistic Character, Canon Trans Character, M/M, My First AO3 Post, Original Fiction, Transphobia, barely there tho, estranged family, longer second chapter woot!, un-beta'd
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-13
Updated: 2018-07-20
Packaged: 2019-06-09 14:54:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15269895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceYosuke/pseuds/AceYosuke
Summary: Jamie doesn't like that his boyfriend is so far away. Especially when he goes silent





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jamie doesn't like being out of the loop.

The soft scritch-scritch-scritch of Jamie’s jeans against the ugly chartreuse chair was starting to be irritating even to him, and in any other situation he might have stopped and crossed his legs instead.  
Really, the only reason he hadn’t was because he knew it irritated his great-aunt even more; being a nuisance was his best line of defense.  
Right now the crone was droning on and on to his mother about one of the many things that bothered her, as she had been since they’d arrived more than an hour ago. With a quick glance at his mother Jamie could see she was only half-listening, nodding and humming absently while his dad picked through the old Home & Garden and Time magazines laid out on the glass table before them. No change since ten minutes ago. No going home in sight. Huffing quietly through his nose, Jamie discreetly pulled his phone out of his soft jacket pocket, waking it with the motion.  
No new messages.  
Still.  
Jamie was starting to get worried, that insidious little slithering feeling wrapping itself in his stomach. The selfish pouting he’d started the week with was a stupid and humiliating blip, and he’d honestly talk with his aunt about anything if it meant that stupid e-mail hadn’t come.  
The Caro family, alongside the Best siblings, were currently far from their home, in some coastal city Jamie didn’t care about.   
Jamie had never even seen a picture of the Caro grandparents, and he doubted the twins and his boyfriend had either. The break between Riley and their unsupportive, controlling parents had been swift and painful, done long before any of the teens were thoughts in someone’s mind. For years, there had been no contact, no letters, no phone calls, no visits during the holidays, and neither party had crawled to the other for forgiveness. And then all of the sudden, while Riley had been at work, an e-mail. Friendly in tone, as if it had merely been a year and not more than two decades, signed with their mother’s name and a semicolon-closed parenthesis. It had referred to Riley by no names, dead or otherwise; asked about jobs, college and life, who they were still in contact with. Most shocking, other than its existence, was the plea presented. A request for them to come visit the old couple, with the kids. They wanted to meet their grandkids. Who they hadn’t acknowledged and should not know about.  
Riley was still pacing from the nervous, paranoid energy when they left.  
That was a surprise as well. The fact that they’d agreed to it. Riley claimed that this perhaps could be an offering of peace, dark eyes filled with doubt and stage-optimism.  
“Tatti just wants to get it over with. It makes sense; they can check off meeting their grandkids, and we can fulfill the obligation of seeing them before they kick it. I’m expecting us to spend maybe one awkward day together, and then maybe we’ll actually get a vacation.” Jade had given with zir usual blunt rationality.  
“I just want to show how much better Tatti is. Make ‘Grandfather’ and ‘Grandmother' regret hurting them.” Shona had spit to him when he’d asked her, cheerleader grin reaching her eyes, and as she swung at her punching bag he had a feeling she wasn’t seeing worn leather.  
Amos hadn’t given an answer. They’d spent most of the time leading up to the departure together, which wasn’t all that different from usual. But those days weren’t filled with normal things like Amos reading folktales or Jamie acting with mock-machismo as he ran through a horror game. Instead they’d laid in Amos’ bed with shared earbuds, mostly silent except for the bright tune of Shawn Wasabi. Even though he’d simply given him a shrug of broad shoulders, he knew his boyfriend well enough to imagine.  
“I want to be surprised. I want Tatti to be happy.”   
As the family had pulled out of the driveway, Mal and Caden alongside for support, Jamie wanted that too.  
The texts had been fairly constant the first day, mostly pictures of blurry cows and messages forcing him to give his input on teasing arguments. He’d still been up when they’d stopped at midnight, the journey too long for a straight shoot.  
From: Sunshine   
stopped for th night. u better be asleep already. I love u  
He’d smiled sleepily, just a bit guiltily at being caught.  
To: Sunshine   
I am sleep typing  
Def not awake  
I love u 2   
The next day had significantly different and less frequent, the fun of travel already growing old with stiff knees and backs. He got twin ‘good morning’ texts, while Shona chose to simply send a picture of floppy hotel bacon, disgust clear without any text. Throughout the day he was sent pictures of dark gray storm clouds right next to bright blue skies, a string of fundamentalist billboards (one of which was next to an ad for a strip club), and complaints of traffic. Since he’d woken up he’d only gotten texts of good morning. They were there, and that was all he knew.  
“Jamie? Are you ready to go?” He started at his mother’s soft voice.  
“Yeah.” He managed to say, groaning as static shot up his sleeping leg. Behind him the chair croaked lowly as its prey slipped from its patchy jaws.  
As he gave his great aunt a hug, mentally congratulating himself that he’d made it without being insulted-  
“Oh I wish you’d grow your hair out again, dear, people will start thinking you're a boy!”  
There it was. He bit back his reply behind a tight lipped smile, then turned and marched behind his father holding the door, anxious to leave. As his parents unlocked the car, he pulled his phone out again.   
One text alert crossed the screen.  
He fumbled with his seatbelt as he unlocked to phone with perhaps unneeded urgency. It was a picture message, from Amos, simply of a bright yellow hibiscus flower, petals soft yet damp from what must be rain, and hiding in its red center tiny sugar ants are clearly congregated. No text follows, only a bright yellow emoji heart, Amos’ signature. The concern in his stomach seemed to coil itself up, not disappearing, but simply relaxing, eased by the feeling that maybe his boyfriend knew he’d been worrying. Smiling softly, Jamie sent his own blue heart, then closed his phone, resting his head against the cool window.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A couple days later, Amos is back. Things didn't go too well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idk if I need to warn about this but there's implied ableism in when Amos talks about his grandparents i.e. they pay more attention to Shona (who is able-bodied) than Amos (autistic) and Jade (wheelchair).

From: Sunshine   
Finally back. Just pulled in.

Holy crap. Jamie rushed around his room, picking up his backpack and tossing some random clothes and things inside before dashing down the stairs and out the back, just barely remembering to lock the door. As he hopped on his old bike he cursed at the realization that one of tires was slightly deflated, but it didn’t stop him from getting onto the trail. The route was easy, practically being memorized after so long, and he hardly registered the rushing wind in his ears. He finally arrived at the double story Caro residence, practically falling off his bike as he tossed it in a safe part of the backyard, rushing to-

Just as he’d reached for the back door handle, it was ripped away as the door swung open, almost smacking him in the face. 

“Jamie?”

There was Amos, confused and surprised expression crossing his face before breaking into his gorgeous signature smile. Jamie’s heart pinged in his chest, feeling like the wind was knocked out of him. Which was kinda unfortunate because wow everything was starting to hurt, god he hates exercise.

“Jamie, are y- are you okay? How did you get here?”

“I, uh, I kinda rode over here. When you texted.” He replied, breathing heavily and leaning against the door frame. Amos’ eyes widened.

“I just texted you like.” He pulled out his phone. “Like less than ten minutes ago!”

“I missed you!” Jamie half-shouted, determined to stand for his stupid decision.

“I missed you too!” Amos shouted back, nose crinkling in amusement. “But I don’t understand how that equals zooming over here.”

“Zooming?”

“It seems like you zoomed.”

A small silence passed between them before Amos started giggling, pulling his boyfriend into his chest. Jamie sighed, melting against the familiar yellow jacket, breathing in the soft lavender smell. 

Something popped in his mind though, and he pulled his face out of Amos’ chest, asking, “If you didn’t know I was coming, why were you coming out here?”

Amos was silent. 

“Were you going to come over to see me?” Jamie asked, and all the answer he needed was the other pressing his face into Jamie’s hair, embarrassed.

“We’re both so dumb,” He giggled. “Speaking of which, can I, like, come inside now?”

“Hm?” All of a sudden something seemed to change subtly, the shorter of the two feeling him tense under his palms. “Oh, yeah, sorry for that.”

They separated, and the short ache was slightly remedied when Amos’ dark hand softly slipped into his.

As the door to Amos’ room was softly pushed closed, Jamie regretfully pulled his hand out of the others, sitting down on the soft quilted cover. Amos joined him, and it felt like any leftover tension seeped out of both of their bodies and exited stage right, pursued by bear. Their hands came back together, and inside he melted as his boyfriend’s thumb ran over his knuckles. He wrapped his free arm on the other’s shoulder, and they leaned their heads against once another. A smile Jamie knew had to be stupid-looking dripped on his face.

“I really did miss you, ya know.” He whispered. Amos gave a soft, huffed laugh.

“I honestly never want to be in a different state from you again.” 

Jamie hummed. “Me neither. I’ll stow away if you do.”

That amazing smile came across Amos’ face again, eyes closing softly.

“Can I kiss you?” Jamie asked.

“Please.”

Their lips finally met in a soft, warm press, noses slightly bumping together. Jamie pulled his arms onto the other’s shoulders, one hand laying at the short hair of his nape and the other running his thumb over the boy’s cheek. He felt Amos’ wide hand settle on the small of his back, and hummed pleasurably at the familiar feeling. The kisses came in short, slow bursts, and they pressed closer, chest to chest; Jamie was practically sitting in Amos’ lap. They broke for breath and as Amos leaned down, setting Jamie against the sheets on his back, the latter pecked as many of his freckles as he could. He’d missed this, missed his freckles and grin-stretched kisses, the radiating warmth; he could feel that he’d been missed too from the soft touches from lightly calloused fingers and how it seemed he was trying to burrow as closely into him as possible. Amos’ face came up from where he’d been buried in his neck and Jamie felt his blood buzz in excitement as their mouths come together again for a deeper kiss. 

They kept kissing like that for some time, hands moving under Jamie’s shirt and into the dip of his side, under Amos’ arms and splayed across his shoulder blades. Eventually they separated once again, faces tinted pink. 

Eventually Amos piped up, voice soft. “Jamie?”

“Yeah?” He sighed. 

“Can you kinda-“ His hand, palm flat, pressed softly against Jamie’s sternum.

Jamie chuckled. “Sure babe. You need to let me up though.” 

The boy groaned, but rolled over so he was laying on his back, and Jamie crawled on top of him. He laid his head against his boyfriend’s chest, and the boy wrapped his arms around him. This was a common position, Jamie laying on Amos’ chest so he could hear his heartbeat, the weight of his body giving a calming pressure to Amos. Said boy let out a deep relaxing sigh, pressing a small kiss to the top of the smaller’s hair.

There was silence again, except for the steady beats from Amos’ chest; it was nice to be back like this again, warm and soft and safe. But there was still something hanging over them, obvious in the still-packed suitcase Jamie noticed by the door and the emptiness of the house. Nervous, itchy energy started gathering on his tongue.

“Babe?” He whispered. 

Amos didn’t say anything.

“How-“ Jamie tried to think how to word it. 

‘How were your grandparents? 

'Did Shona beat them up?’

‘Were you surprised?’

“How was your trip?”

The hand that had been drawing on his back stuttered in its journey. 

“We…” He slowly started, drawing out the word. “Had fun when Caden took us down by the beach. There was a nice little candy store that made its own ice cream.”

“That’s nice.” Jamie said, smiling softly.

“Yeah. And one day when we all went down downtown together, and you could see the water, and a couple nice museums but they didn’t want us taking pictures there. Plus there was a bunch of pride flags hanging around!”

“Really?”

“Yeah!” When he turned his head up slightly Amos’ face was bright, and he could feel his hand start tapping rhythmically. “Tatti said it was because they’d just had the parade the week before! And they tend to keep them up for the first few weeks of July since its at the end of June.”

“That’s awesome!” Chuckled Jamie. It definitely hadn’t been what he’d been looking for, but seeing him happy… 

Amos’ hand went back to its usual ministrations, and Jamie closed his eyes and burrowed in. The air felt a bit lighter, and the exhaustion from rushing all the way to the house was starting to settle in, making his muscles feel heavy and achey. Amos’ yellow jacket was soft from wear under his cheek, clean skin and lavender and warmth almost putting him to sleep.

He was woken but a soft, barely there whisper that he’d never had heard if he didn’t know Amos so well.

“Amos?” He whispered back. A quiet sniffle answered.

Jamie pulled himself up on his elbows and shimmied up to meet Amos’ face. The latter had turned his face into his pillow, eyes tinged pink and brow furrowed. 

“Shit, babe.” Jamie curled his hand under Amos cheek, not turning it towards him, but staying, comforting. “What’s wrong? Did something   
happen or- or…”

Amos shook his head slightly, pressing his closed fist against Jamie’s back, pinkie and thumb splayed. Phone. Okay. Jamie reached over to the bedside table and dragged his phone over, placing it next to Amos before shuffling back down to his chest and pulling his own out of his jean’s pocket. One of the arms around him moved to pick up the phone, the other tightening to compensate.

From: Sunshine  
We didt meet them the first day  
Mal and Tatti talked to them first  
Tatti looked tired after  
Then we met them and like she looked so much like Tatti??  
Out grandmama I guess  
They were polite but like icky polite  
yknow mr.Jackson from freshman yr??

To: Sunshine  
Yeah  
He twas weird  
???y

From: Sunshine  
They talked the same way he did  
Like to me and jade  
Like slow and overly sweet  
And like half the time we’d see them giving us gross looks  
And like the our grandpa was a jackass just  
In general  
We went to dinner at this one place and it was rly loud and id forgotten my headphones but Shona had my earplugs  
But like most of the time they just would talk to her  
Asking like what she did in school and everything  
They couldn’t even tell that she completely hated them

To: Sunshine  
Tbh sometimes Shona is good at acting like she doesn’t

From: Sunshine  
She wasn’t this time tho  
She never looked at them w/o glaring   
Answered them rly short and mean  
But they nver rly like asked me and Jade andything   
When they werent talking to us we’d sign at each other  
Then they’d be like “oh wacha doin?”  
Jus t like   
bluuuuh

Jamie rubbed soothingly up and down Amos’ ribs. He returned the gesture with a kiss on the head before sighing.

“They gave us a gift before we left though.” His voice was soft and scratchy, and Jamie pressed closer into his chest.

“Oh yeah? Was it like one of those Chick tracts Riley has in their office?”Jamie sly, teasing smile instantly fell when Amos’ raised his eyebrows. “Oh my god.”

“I mean technically?”

“They fucking didn’t.”

Amos gave him a blank look before cracking into uncontrollable, bright giggles. Jamie sat up immediately, straddling his lap.

“Does that mean you're joking?! Ames! Sunshine! Babe!” Amos was full on laughing now, hands clutching his stomach.

“I’m not- Oh god your face- I’m not joking. Let me up.”

Jamie threw his leg over his hips, settling against the wall as Amos got up. He moved down to the end of the bed and pulled his backpack around the corner, shuffling through it. Eventually he pulled out a paperback book, shaking it above his head so the laminated cover flopped around, the leftover giggles leaving a blush on his cheeks. He settled back against the headboard and Jamie leaned up against him, head on his shoulder; the two looked at the book in Amos’ lap. The cover was black with a background of metal beams and a splotchy, stocky type in white and neon green, proclaiming:  
THE SWORD:  
GROWING TO BE A SOLDIER OF GOD  
By Teen Guys

“Teen guys my ass.” Jamie groaned, “This was probably written by a bunch of forty-year-old dudes.”

“I don’t get the soldier thing, but I still feel kinda insulted by it.” Amos nose scrunched up before opening the book, fanning through it. “I don’t wanna read like… any of this. Jade and Shona’s looked worse though.”

“Oh my god,” exclaimed Jamie, “please tell me Shona yeeted hers out a window the moment she got it.”

“No.” Jamie groaned. “I do think she has bigger plans for it.”

“Nice!” Jamie thought for a moment. “What about you?” Amos hummed, paging through what looked like the index.

“I… am going to write a bunch of really gay shit.”

That threw him off; Jamie burst into loud raucous laughter, and Amos joined in, and soon both boys were clutching at their aching cheeks. As they calm down, Jamie pressed a soft kiss to his freckled cheek, and Amos responded with one on the tip of the other’s nose. Eventually they came back to softly press their lips together, moving against each other with practiced easy as Amos’ hair came up to cradle his cheek, smiling into the kiss.

They were eventually interrupted by a knock at the door, barely separating before it cracked open to reveal Shona, hair in a messy bun and wearing loose soft clothes. She raised an eyebrow and smirked.

“Not to interrupt anything, but Caden’s picking up some pizza. He should be here any minute” She gave Jamie a mock ‘watching you’ gesture, which he returned with his tongue sticking out, and the door clicked shut. Amos shook his shoulder and Jamie looked up at him.

“Wanna go ahead and head down there?” He asked, and Jamie gave him a wide grin.

“Hell yeah, man.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay I actually finished something! I've got an in-progress oc blog here ->https://moving-forward-fightingback.tumblr.com/characters
> 
> Thanks guys, remember to like the fic, subscribe to the fic, and I'll see you later recruits.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first time I've actually finished writing something for these characters wrow. Ill do another chapter its just not done.
> 
> uhhhhh make sure to like the fic, subscribe to the fic, and I'll see you later recruits.


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